A Right to Media? Lorie M. Graham - Columbia Law School

490 COLUMBIA HUMAN RIGHTS LAW REVIEW [41:429
their communities.” 236 The result of the BRACS project is that there
are now over a hundred community radio and television broadcasting
facilities known as Remote Indigenous Broadcasting Services
(RIBS). 237 In addition, there are “25 licensed aboriginal community
radio stations across the continent.” 238 While many stations receive
substantial government funding, approximately two-thirds of
aboriginal station funding comes from advertising sales. 239
Australia has also worked to strengthen media access to its
national television network, the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation (ABC), which became a nationalized, state-owned
corporation in 1932. 240 ABC has an Indigenous Program Unit (IPU),
which was established in 1987 and concentrates on creating
indigenous programming and improving the representation of
Aboriginal peoples in the media. 241 IPU has produced several long
running programs and funds media production within the Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander communities. 242 An interesting component
of the IPU is the Bonner Committee, which was launched on July 11,
2003 and is designed to serve as a central point of conversation and
dissemination of information on Aboriginal and Torres Strait
236. Powerhouse Museum, Broadcasting for Remote Aboriginal
Communities Scheme, http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/hsc/bracs (last visited
Feb. 5, 2010).
237. Kalinga Seneviratne, Media-Australia: Aboriginal Radio Holds Its
Own, Inter Press Serv., Apr. 5, 2008, http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41872
(noting that “there are now 105 unique small community radio and television
broadcasting facilities known as Remote Indigenous Broadcasting Services in farflung
communities.”).
238. Id.
239. Id.
240. Austl. Broad. Corp., All About the Australian Broadcasting System
111 (2003), available at http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/documents/ABC
_Brochure_2003.pdf. ABC is entirely funded by the Australian government and
has an annual budget of approximately $822 million dollars, which it uses to fund
radio, television and online programming. Austl. Broad. Corp., ABC
Budget 2006—2007 111 (2007), available at http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs
/documents/budget2006-07.pdf.
241. See Austl. Broad. Corp., About: Indigenous Program Unit,
http://www.abc.net.au/indigenous/about/indigenous_program_unit.htm (last
visited Feb. 5, 2010) (“The Indigenous Programs Unit (IPU) was established by
the ABC in 1987, with the objective of becoming a centre of excellence for
production of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander television in Australia.”).
242. Id.